Parking in downtown Colorado Springs and Old Colorado City is about to get easier with upgraded meters, new payment options, and a city-wide information campaign.
The city of Colorado Springs is rolling out its "Now You Know" campaign, aimed at making parking simpler and more affordable for drivers in downtown Colorado Springs and Old Colorado City.
Upgraded parking meters now offer new ways to pay, including tap-to-pay, text-to-pay, and the ParkMobile app. Coins and credit cards remain accepted. New kiosks have also replaced meters along Tejon Street and in Old Colorado City.
City-owned garages are $1 an hour and free on Sundays.
The city's parking manager Alyssa Alt said the old system was long overdue for an upgrade.
"So not only was it hard for the community and for people who are using it, it was really hard for our staff to be constantly out there fixing and changing, and it costs us a lot of money to actually maintain those older meters."
Alt said the goal is to modernize the system and give drivers more choice.
"Our goal is to have less parking infrastructure but more ways for you to pay and more options for you to do. So again, coins, card, tap, text, the choice is really yours."
Every dollar collected through the parking system is reinvested back into it, Alt said.
"Every dollar that is collected within the parking enterprise is reinvested back into our parking system, so that means making sure that our facilities are maintained, lots and garages are safe and working, updated technology like new parking meters, increasing our ADA accessibility for folks."
City officials say this is just the beginning. New signs and social media posts with more information are expected in the coming months.
For a full list of city parking rates, visit ColoradoSprings.gov/Parking.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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